This blog features observations from Randy Turner, a former teacher, newspaper reporter and editor. Send news items or comments to rturner229@hotmail.com

Saturday, October 10, 2015

Blasters CEO: This is what we need to stay in Joplin

(From the Joplin Blasters)

The Blasters came to Joplin because we enjoy the city, citizens, and surrounding areas and we were told that we would have much higher attendance numbers than we have today. The Blasters have paid our first two lease payments in accordance with the current lease; however, with attendance not meeting original expectations they are not able to continue forward with this lease and have proposed a new lease that extends the debt over a longer period of time keeping the Blasters in Joplin indefinitely. Recently, certain details of this lease restructure proposal the Blasters gave to the city on September 30 have been revealed.

The original lease between the City and the Blasters was signed based on the assumption of an average paid attendance of 2,500 to 3,000 fans per game for 50 games equaling 125,000 to 150,000 fans for the season. The lease calls for a $150,000 annual payment plus 33% of operating costs which has averaged about $7,000 per quarter. The term of the lease was 20 years and 2 months and provides the use of the stadium to the Blasters for the dates of May 1 through September 10, NOT the entire year. This equals a payment of $34,642.03 per month for the 4.33 months the Blasters have use of the stadium and excludes one week during the summer for the City to operate the Premiere Baseball Tournament at Joe Becker Stadium. If the Blasters wish to use Joe Becker Stadium outside of those dates there is a $500 fee per day which would have to be paid for potential playoff dates that occur when the Blasters make the postseason.

Before the Blasters agreed to the lease it was understood that the City and the Blasters would analyze first year operations to make sure the lease was appropriate for both parties’ financial and operational purposes.

The fan attendance for the Inaugural Year was 1,538 fans per game for 45 games totaling 69,222 fans for the year. However, only 46,531 of the 69,222 were paying fans making the average paid attendance per game 1,038 fans. This makes us similar to the Sioux City and Laredo clubs which have significantly lower lease terms than what we have proposed (Sioux City and Laredo were the two teams in the American Association finals this year). Throughout the Inaugural Season the fact that a restructuring of the lease would be needed, based on the numbers coming in, was discussed between Blasters and city representatives. The Joplin Blasters sent a request to discuss a lease restructure on September 11, 2015 to city council members and staff. The request for a lease restructure and meeting on September 30 was not a surprise. During that meeting on September 30 two proposals were given along with stadium fixes that have been requested throughout the year. The two proposals were as follows:Proposal A: Extend the Debt to 60 Years

· 2015 Lease Payment of $75,000

· Annual lease payment of $50,000 thereafter paid at the end of each quarter

Proposal B: Extend the Debt to 40 Years

· 2015 Lease Payment of $75,000

· First 5 years lease payment of $50,000 thereafter paid at the end of each quarter

· Re-negotiate terms at the end of the 5th year (End of 2020 season)

Both of these proposals extend the debt. In neither of these do the Blasters ask for a forgiveness on the total amount needed to be paid. These proposals do two things:

· They allow the Blasters to operate based on actual attendance numbers

· It guarantees the Blasters stay in Joplin indefinitely

With that being said, the Blasters had close to 70,000 fans come through the turnstiles not counting all the workers and out-of-town teams. The Blasters’ games have become a gathering place for family, friends, and businesses. The team has helped to showcase and raise money for multiple charities, helped increase local businesses revenues on game nights, contributed to the tax base, and filled hotels. This has not been seen in Joplin for a long time on a consistent basis and shows what entertainment like the Blasters can do for the city’s quality of life. The Blasters will continue to grow but the team needs to be able to do that with a lease that reflects real data and not based on projected numbers that are not accurate.

The support from the Blasters’ fan base and business partners has been tremendous at this time and we would like to thank them. The main goal is to have the Blasters here for generations and that will be accomplished with the support of the City, the citizens, and the business community.

21 comments:

Anonymous
said...

Sounds like the Blasters got blown the same smoke that the city did by the promises of Wallace Bajoli. Hey Blasters, come to town and you will have 2,500-3,000 paid attendance each game. Opps, we meant 1,000 paid attendance. Maybe Rob O'Brien can pay the lease out of he excessive funds the Chamber of Commerce is getting from the city.

Let them walk away. Joplin does not need professional baseball, let alone independent professional baseball.

Team was a joke, asking to redo the agreement after one season is a joke. It doesn't matter if the team gets what they want, they have created such a negative feeling to the community, there is no way the community will support them moving forward.

More like Blasters are taking the City for a ride. The City spent $4 million taxpayer dollars to build a stadium for the Blasters on the assumption that the Blasters lease would pay the City back for the stadium. Dumb.

With that being said, the Blasters had close to 70,000 fans come through the turnstiles not counting all the workers and out-of-town teams.These are not unique fans but rather attendance. How many showed up at every game...they would be counted 50 times....They should take care of maintenance...and open up their books for transparency..if they want city subside..open the records...

I do hope the Blasters make it in Joplin! But I believe it was the Blasters themselves that said attendance would be 2500-3000 not the city and if you build it they will come. Rob Obrian did support the Blasters and the 5 million "retail plaza" the Blasters were to build if the city built the stadium. I think the retail plaza will help when they get it finished. Lofts over retail I think they said, not only will we have some nice new lofts but what a great retail location tied to the ballpark. Maybe some restaraunts,or a music store will help? just wait its going to be great youll see.

The Chamber keeps telling us that 250,000 people do business and seek entertainment in Joplin; that makes the attendance figures even more pathetic if the team pulled ca 1500 people per game from 250,000 people and not just the 50,000 residents. Let it die and rent the stadium out for concerts instead.

And as a side note--I find it interesting that one day late on a $30 sewer bill costs you $4, but refusing to pay the City $75,000 when owed gets a "gee whiz, we need to rethink this" response.

"Before the Blasters agreed to the lease it was understood that the City and the Blasters would analyze first year operations to make sure the lease was appropriate for both parties’ financial and operational purposes. "

So this is in writing? As a part of the lease?

Or is it a "side deal"?

If this part of the deal isn't in writing and properly disclosed to the taxpayers who are actually financing this, how many other unknown unknowns are out there to step in?

The request seems reasonable, but couldn't the city request the original amounts for years that attendance is above the original goal? The rain outs in the spring had a huge effect in my opinion. This would allow a chance to see what effect it may or may not have had. I know I canceled plans for at least 3 nights early in the year due to rain. Perhaps some discounts for Mon, tue, and Wed games on tickets and concessions would get more people in seats? I hope they stay.

Gabe Suarez, if you're on here, would you explain why you projected attendance at 2,500-3,000 per game in an economically depressed area, the smallest or second-smallest in the league, hemmed in on three sides by established minor-league clubs?

"Before the Blasters agreed to the lease it was understood that the City and the Blasters would analyze first year operations to make sure the lease was appropriate for both parties’ financial and operational purposes." I am curious about this too, 8:53. What it sounds like is a one-year lease with the option to extend it 19 years if both parties agree. Suppose the parties do not agree on revised terms. Does the lease remain in effect? This seems quite unusual: a contract that allows for a complete reset.

I'm going to side with the city on this one. It has to be more of the team's responsibility rather than the city's to draw the number of fans needed. The city has no control over the product on the field or the team's marketing efforts. While the product on the field was good, the marketing and promotions were sub-par. Because the team had so many Hispanic players, the community had difficulty identifying with them. Personally, I couldn't name more than two or three players despite coming to five games this season. I would like to know who is supposed to build the retail plaza: the city or the Blasters? I never figured a retail/entertainment district could have any success in that part of Joplin.

This situation should not come as a big surprise. There were several individuals who pointed out to the City Council prior to the agreement that the attendance estimates and the feasibility study conducted by the JACC were flawed, misleading, and highly overstated. It is highly doubtful that attendance figures for future years will be any better...usually the first year of operation is the high point when calculated as a percentage of the immediate population base. The simple fact is that the Joplin market is not big enough to sustain a professional sport operation of this type due to the overhead costs associated with this type of operation. This is not a commentary on the quality of the product....just simple facts of the economics of the venture.

My family attended 3 games this past season. Very over priced and not much fun. I had a relative who was chosen to sing the National Anthem. Crazy thing was they still had to buy a ticket to get into the game. One game we went to was a double header. The previous nights game was called in the 3rd inning. We had to pay double parking fees to stay for both games. Concessions are out of sight for a non professional sports venue. One of biggest things we noticed was the fact that the team didn't engage with the fans. Either way the citizens of Joplin will take the proverbial hotdog...

Blame it on City Council all you want, but at the end of the day they are basically volunteers who work full time jobs. They get recommendations from the people who hold positions of power and who are working these deals all day every day before making the recommendations. The common denominators in all of these bad deals is Rohr and O'Brian. They managed to screw everybody on this one. 2,500-3,000 fans per game???? Great job on the feasibility study, Chamber. Rohr is gone and by all accounts he was replaced by a much better man. Rob O is still the king of the Chamber of Corruption though.

I thought the concessions and prices were actually pretty good. The puzzling thing to a lot of us was $1 beer night on Thursdays. They always set it up in the kids' playground area! For some unexplained reason, they didn't use their designated beer garden area (down the left-field line).

About Me

I am a former teacher in the Joplin and Diamond, Missouri, school districts. Before entering the teaching field, I spent 22 years as a reporter and editor for various Southwest Missouri newspapers. I have published three novels, Small Town News, Devil's Messenger, and No Child Left Alive, and seven non-fiction books, The Turner Report, Newspaper Days, Silver Lining in a Funnel Cloud, Greed, Corruption, and the Joplin Tornado, 5:41: Stories from the Joplin Tornado, Spirit of Hope: The Year After the Joplin Tornado, Scars from the Tornado and Let Teachers Teach.

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